Meet Olympic Athletes
English, Career Education, Civics, Physical Education
KidsPost provides a slideshow to give an overview: “Here are the athletes to watch out for in the 2018 Olympics” These may be shown to introduce this project.
There are a variety of approaches a teacher may take with these Washington Post Sports articles. Students may work individually, in pairs and as a team.
• Read articles about assigned athletes. Prepare a summary and present to the class.
• Read about, interview or follow on social media local Olympians. In addition to those indicated below with *, Maryland and Virginia 2018 Olympians are Hakeem Abdul-Saboor, Ashley Caldwell, John Daly, Elana Meyers Taylor and Haley Skarupa. After the Olympics, invite one for a press conference/interview with your student media.
• Prepare a viewing guide with a brief summary of the athlete and when to view the particular sport.
• Group the articles by sport, read and discuss what is learned about the sport through the individuals who compete in them.
• Read and discuss the lede paragraphs of five articles. Compare and contrast how successful each is in introducing the athlete, setting up the focus and grabbing the reader’s interest. Give students "Get Off to the Right Lede." You may use ledes in "Sky, Snow and Ice" and "Talent, Politics, Education" to train students.
• Select one of the ledes to model the beginning of a profile about a student athlete in your school.
• Discuss the kinds of information (the athlete, the private person, the child, records, challenges) that is provided by the reporter. How do these build to give you a better sense of the person who has achieved Olympic dreams by making the USA team.
Maame Biney — USA, short track skating*
Nathan Chen — USA, figure skating
Matt and Becca Hamilton — USA, curling, siblings
Yuzuru Hanyu — Japan, defending men’s champion, figure skating
Thomas Hong — USA, short-track speedskating*
Gus Kenworth — USA, first openly gay Olympic skier
Chris Kinney — USA, bobsled*
Chloe Kim — USA, snowboarding
Ted Ligety — USA, skiing, fourth Olympic
Julia Marino, USA, snowboarding
Maddie Mastro — USA, snowboarding
Mirai Nagasu — USA, figure skating
Adam Rippon — USA, figure skating
Garrett Roe — USA, ice hockey*
Mikaela Shiffrin — USA, shalom
Bradie Tennell — USA, figure skating
Lindsey Vonn, USA, skiing
Shaun White — USA, snowboarding
Conduct an Interview
English, Journalism, Physical Education
A surprising number of people in a community have ties to athletic involvement from their high school days to current work or leisure. Brainstorm a series of nine categories, sports or concepts that your class could pursue for publication. These would include:
• Graduates, staff or coaches who competed on the state, national or international level;
• Graduates or current students who have gone through trials to qualify for regionals or higher competition;
• Parents or residents of your town who had Olympic dreams or who coached a future Olympian;
• Local venues for students to participate in the sports featured in the Olympics or Paralympics
How Do Athletes Support Their Quest?
Business, Personal Finance, Physical Education, Reading
Give students “The Sky’s the Limit” to use as a case study of an athlete with a dream, the years of training and the expenses she and her family faced. Identify what snowboarder Chloe Kim and her family did to support her Olympic dream.
Discuss who and what your community does to encourage young people to be involved in sports, to help those who show promise and to support those who have reached the highest levels of competition. How do these resources benefit your community, the student athlete and his or her parents?
Who Profits from the Games?
Business, Economics, Journalism, Physical Education
A host country is gambling on success during and after hosting the Games in order to break even or make a profit. A recent study of Games since 1960 found the most expensive Summer Games to be London 2012 (15.0 USD billion) and Barcelona 1992 (9.7 USD billion) and the most expensive Winter Games to be Sochi 2014 (21.9 USD billion) and Torino 2006 (4.4 USD billion). Transportation infrastructure is not included in the costs. Why would a country want to host the Olympic Games?
• The host country. What factors determine if the host country gains or loses financially? Which does the best financially — Summer Olympic Games or Winter Olympic Games? How many countries have used Olympic facilities after the Games for continued local use? [For example, Lake Placid used the athletes’ village as a prison.] For hosting other sports events and to offer training facilities? As an international destination?
• Businesses. Who gets the profit from sale of Olympic-related merchandise such as the mascots and torches? Which local business will profit?
• Prestige for individual and country? What countries have benefitted by having the most medalists? Explain how this has happened.
• Financial benefits for the individual athlete? Which contemporary athletes benefitted by Olympic success, especially if they were not on a professional sports team? Do any countries pay their athletes for being a gold, silver or bronze medalist? To whom would a medalist sell his or her medal if times are tough? What is the gold content of a gold medal? What about the auction block?
• Games sponsors. What are the benefits to the corporations that are Olympic Games sponsors? Who are they? How do they make themselves known? Which can benefit by selling Olympic-related merchandise?
On Your Mark
Business, Economics, Mathematics, Physical Education
According to early reports, the Olympic venues cost South Korea more than $1 billion to construct or refurbish. Others report that athletes may spend from $35,000 to $50,000 on their way to achieving Olympic proficiency. Many topics involve the business or economic side of sports. Give students "On Your Mark." Students in pairs or small team may select one of the teasers to explore.
Keep Athletes Safe and Well
Character Education, Civics, Journalism, Physical Education
Read the full statement of the Safe Sport initiative that is employed for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. All participating athletes are informed how to report “any incident of harassment or abuse,” what constitutes harassment and abuse, and where the IOC Safeguarding offices are located.
In November 2017 a Safeguarding toolkit was released to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs) to assist in “the development of policies and procedures to safeguard athletes from harassment and abuse in sport. Show the introductory video to students to introduce the concept. Discuss and define “harassment” and “abuse” as well as having a need for policies and procedures to report actions. Why are these policies needed? Who should be included under the policy?
Teachers should review the tookit to determine if this may act as a guideline for your school district, school’s athletic department and/or team leaders to develop a harassment and abuse policy. If such a policy exists, perhaps you might review it against these guidelines.
Students might also be divided into three groups to read, discuss and determine steps to follow in creating a school policy for your teams.
• Preparation
• Positioning
• Core Components